Advertisements reflect the reality in society. Or so they should. As a minimum, advertisements should resonate with the intended target audience. Advertisements targeting female consumers have been accused of continually depicting women in traditionally stereotypical roles, such as the housewife and the sex object. This is contrary to the many important roles women fulfil in reality; business-woman, mother, romantic partner, and socialite, to name but a few. The purpose of this study was to identify the roles that female models portrayed in South African consumer magazine advertisements, and the extent to which these models appeared in these roles. The numerous secondary objectives included, but were not limited to, an investigation into the ethnic representation of female models in South African magazine advertisements, the product and/or service categories advertised using female models, and the illustrative technique and advertising appeals most commonly used. Content analysis was used to analyse and capture data from magazine advertisements featuring one or more female models. Content analysis was seen to be the most appropriate research method for this study based on its applicability as a mass communication research method. A total of 258 full-page and double-page magazine advertisements were sampled from nine consumer magazines published in South Africa in November 2009 and February 2010. The research found that female models were predominantly portrayed as the decorative focal point (32%) in magazine advertisements for personal care products, apparel and accessories. Just over two-thirds of the models used were Caucasian (68%), albeit the magazines sampled targeted African, Caucasian, and to a slightly lesser degree Coloured and Indian readers. In addition, marketers seemed inclined to favour advertisements with photographs of female models (98%), rather than drawings or computer-generated images. Rational advertising appeals were used most often (46%) in the magazine advertisements analysed, followed by combination appeals (27%). Forty-four advertisements (17%) were considered not to have a distinctive appeal. These advertisements would simply illustrate the product or service together with a female model, without evoking feelings or providing any further information about the product or service, other than the brand or company name. Academically, this study adds to the limited knowledge on female role portrayal in South African magazine advertisements. Only two such studies have been completed in South Africa in the past, one in 1991 and the other in 2010. This study makes a unique contribution by investigating the roles in which female models from different ethnic groups are portrayed in South African magazine advertisements. From a practical perspective, the findings illustrate to South African advertisers the limited roles in which they portray women, which is contrary to the numerous roles women fulfil in reality. Female consumers are an important target market to any organisation, thus advertisers need to adapt advertisements to reflect the important and changing roles of women in the South African society. Copyright / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Marketing Management / unrestricted

Diese Dissertation besteht aus drei Aufsätzen, in denen verschiedene Aspekte von zweiseitigen Märkten untersucht werden. Dabei handelt es sich um Märkte mit zwei verschiedenen Nutzergruppen, von denen jede Netzwerkeffekte auf die jeweils andere Seite ausübt. Im ersten Aufsatz werden die Wechselwirkungen zwischen den traditionellen (offline) Nachfragekanälen und den neuen (online) Nachfragekanälen in der deutschen Zeitschriftenindustrie analysiert. Dabei liegt der Fokus insbesondere auf den Effekten zwischen Offlinewerbung und Onlinewerbung. Das Ergebnis der Schätzung eines dafür entwickelten ökonomischen Modells ist, dass Offline- und Onlinewerbung moderate Substitute füreinander sind. Dies erklärt die Verlagerung von Offline- zu Onlinewerbung, die man in den vergangen Jahren beobachten konnte. Im zweiten Aufsatz wird ein semistruktureller Ansatz zur Messung von Netzwerk-Effekten auf potentiell zweiseitigen Monopol-Plattformen entwickelt. Der Test ist hinreichend, wenn lediglich Daten zum Gesamtumsatz der Plattform zur Verfügung stehen. Sind getrennte Umsatzdaten für die beiden Seiten verfügbar, dann ist der Test sowohl notwendig als auch hinreichend. Der dritte Aufsatz untersucht Mechanismen und Anreize, die die Koordination von Angebot und Nachfrage auf Kreditmärkten ermöglichen, in denen es keine Finanzintermediäre mit eigener finanzieller Beteiligung an den vergebenen Darlehen gibt. Dazu wird der Online-Direktkreditmarkt analysiert, in welchem an die Stelle von klassischen Finanzintermediären ein System von Gruppen tritt. Anhand eines Differenz-in-Differenzen-Ansatzes wird gezeigt, dass Entgelte für die Leiter dieser Gruppen zu adversen Anreizen führen können. Nach Abschaffung der Entgelte differenzieren die Leiter der Gruppen deutlich stärker bei der Auswahl derjenigen Kreditgesuche, die sie als investitionswürdig empfehlen. Gleiches ist zu beobachten, wenn die Leiter der Gruppen selbst zu einem großen Teil an den entsprechenden Darlehen beteiligt sind. / This dissertation investigates various aspects of two-sided markets - markets with at least two distinct user groups each of which exerts inter-group network effects on the other side - in the online world. In the first paper, I examine the interactions between the traditional (offline) demand channels and the new (online) demand channels in the German magazines industry, focusing in particular on the link between offline and online advertising. I find that offline and online advertising are substitutes although not perfect ones. This explains the shift from offline to online advertising observed in recent years. In the second paper, I develop a semi-structural approach to identify network effects on two-sided monopoly platforms without data on prices and quantities. A sufficient test for the existence of network effects is derived when only data on total revenue is available. If separate revenue data is available on the two sides, then the test is both necessary and sufficient. The third paper investigates the certification mechanisms and incentives that enable lending markets to match demand and supply despite the absence of financial intermediaries with skin in the game. The institutional setting for this analysis is the online social lending market, in which potential lenders and borrowers interact directly without a financial intermediary but can create self-organized groups instead. A difference-in-difference approach is used to examine how the same groups behave before and after the exogenously imposed elimination of rewards for the leaders of these groups. Allowing group leader rewards is found to be detrimental for the market outcome. Group leaders become more careful in screening after the elimination of these rewards, and if their loan participation is high, i.e. when they have skin in the game and are thus severely hurt by a borrower default.

This thesis focuses on the emergence of the teenaged consumer as a market segment in Canada during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. It challenges the notion that teenagers were of little interest to retailers until economics and demographics shaped the more numerous and prosperous post-war teenagers of the Baby Boom generation. Using evidence from corporate records and analysis of mail order catalogues, the study examines how department store retailer, the T. Eaton Company, Limited, began to cultivate a distinct and lucrative teenaged consumer in the 1930s, and thereby began shaping the teenaged consumer. The thesis contextualizes the case study of Eaton’s by exploring the varied expectations that adults had of young people at the time, using census records and magazines (Chatelaine, Canadian Home Journal and Mayfair) to explore concerns about young people’s transition to adulthood. It then focuses on how Eaton’s made a concerted and sustained effort to attract teenager customers to its catalogue and stores. Analysis of its semi-annual catalogue highlights the emergence of specialized clothing size ranges and styles, revealing that Eaton’s increasingly viewed the teenaged years as an important in-between life stage. Eaton’s also instituted teenage advisory councils to both glean market trends and provide a venue for what it considered education for novice consumers. Eaton’s presented consumption as a way to prepare young people for adult roles, legitimizing teenaged participation in the consumer marketplace and contributing to wider debates about when and how teenaged Canadians should reach maturity.

This thesis focuses on the emergence of the teenaged consumer as a market segment in Canada during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. It challenges the notion that teenagers were of little interest to retailers until economics and demographics shaped the more numerous and prosperous post-war teenagers of the Baby Boom generation. Using evidence from corporate records and analysis of mail order catalogues, the study examines how department store retailer, the T. Eaton Company, Limited, began to cultivate a distinct and lucrative teenaged consumer in the 1930s, and thereby began shaping the teenaged consumer. The thesis contextualizes the case study of Eaton’s by exploring the varied expectations that adults had of young people at the time, using census records and magazines (Chatelaine, Canadian Home Journal and Mayfair) to explore concerns about young people’s transition to adulthood. It then focuses on how Eaton’s made a concerted and sustained effort to attract teenager customers to its catalogue and stores. Analysis of its semi-annual catalogue highlights the emergence of specialized clothing size ranges and styles, revealing that Eaton’s increasingly viewed the teenaged years as an important in-between life stage. Eaton’s also instituted teenage advisory councils to both glean market trends and provide a venue for what it considered education for novice consumers. Eaton’s presented consumption as a way to prepare young people for adult roles, legitimizing teenaged participation in the consumer marketplace and contributing to wider debates about when and how teenaged Canadians should reach maturity.

This thesis focuses on the emergence of the teenaged consumer as a market segment in Canada during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. It challenges the notion that teenagers were of little interest to retailers until economics and demographics shaped the more numerous and prosperous post-war teenagers of the Baby Boom generation. Using evidence from corporate records and analysis of mail order catalogues, the study examines how department store retailer, the T. Eaton Company, Limited, began to cultivate a distinct and lucrative teenaged consumer in the 1930s, and thereby began shaping the teenaged consumer. The thesis contextualizes the case study of Eaton’s by exploring the varied expectations that adults had of young people at the time, using census records and magazines (Chatelaine, Canadian Home Journal and Mayfair) to explore concerns about young people’s transition to adulthood. It then focuses on how Eaton’s made a concerted and sustained effort to attract teenager customers to its catalogue and stores. Analysis of its semi-annual catalogue highlights the emergence of specialized clothing size ranges and styles, revealing that Eaton’s increasingly viewed the teenaged years as an important in-between life stage. Eaton’s also instituted teenage advisory councils to both glean market trends and provide a venue for what it considered education for novice consumers. Eaton’s presented consumption as a way to prepare young people for adult roles, legitimizing teenaged participation in the consumer marketplace and contributing to wider debates about when and how teenaged Canadians should reach maturity.